All Posts by Anndrew Vacca

With the introduction of its brand new Gen10 XS line, Archos is reminding the world today that the Android tablet market is not limited to a couple of high roller manufacturers. It’s latest flagship, the 101 XS, is a tablet that shies away from competing with the likes of Samsung and Motorola and enters a niche that gives Archos an opportunity to cement its name in the mobile computing world....

ARCHOS today introduced the Gen10 XS line, the successor to last summer’s G9 tablets. The 101 XS, the company’s latest flagship tablet, will be the first to carry the Gen10 XS name, and comes equipped with a 10.1-inch display, a dual-core OMAP 4470 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, and a nearly-stock Ice Cream Sandwich experience. ARCHOS says that a Jelly Bean update will be released in early Q4...

Reworked since its announcement six months ago​, we take the new Galaxy Note 10.1 for a spin.
Hey, look at that. Some six months after we first got our hands on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, it's finally time for this touchable tablet to hit the streets. We're live at Samsung's launch event this morning in New York City, but we've already gotten a second...

It has been one heck of a summer for Samsung, with both good press (Olympic sponsorship) and bad press (ongoing litigation with Apple) fueling sales of its biggest device to date, the Galaxy S3. Since it went on sale just a few short months ago, the GS3 has been flying off the shelves, with nearly 10 million sold to date.
Late to the party is Verizon, the last of the big carriers to release its...

The International Data Corporation (IDC) released its Q2 2012 data today, which shows Android maintaining a firm lead in both market share and overall shipments between April and June. Android’s market share has grown to 68.1%, up from the 46.9% it held at this time in 2011. iOS holds the number two spot with 16.9% of the market, while Blackberry continues its decline with 4.8%.
In terms of...

The name OtterBox has become synonymous with unrivaled protection, and its Defender series cases are truly unmatched. I never hesitate to recommend OtterBox products to people looking to keep their phone in great shape for the duration of their two-year contract. Simply put, you’d be hard pressed to damage your investment with an OtterBox on its back.

Hard-shell cases have become arguably the most popular solutions for protecting your smartphone. They offer decent protection from dents, dings and scratches while adding negligible heft and girth to your device. As the go-to choice, the market has become flooded with offerings from countless manufacturers, ranging from colorful and fashion-centric to the conservative and refined. Two great...

With the recent introduction of Google’s Nexus 7, Android tablets have reached a bit of a crossroads. To the right lies the current trend of beefed up specs and raw computing power; on the left lies the newly-blazed trail of “content as king.” Ask Google and it will say that its latest project is the face of how Android tablets should proceed, though unfortunately for tablet makers, that news...

Nielsen released its mobile subscriber data for Q2 2012 today, and it shows a tight race between Samsung and HTC for the title of top Android manufacturer. Among total Android users, 17 percent own a Samsung device, while 14 percent have an HTC device. Motorola claims 11 percent of the Android market share, coming in a close third.
Among all U.S. mobile subscribers, 54.9 percent now own a...

Some of you might be wondering what ever happened to our review of Acer’s new Iconia Tab A700, and rightfully so. We promise we didn’t forget, and we’re definitely not keeping you all on pins and needs for the fun of it. Everyone here at Android Central strives to provide the most fair, balanced, and thorough product reviews possible, and sometimes a speed bump or two along the way is just...

Well, that didn't take very long: our crafty friends over at RootzWiki have already brought the I/O Android 4.1 preview build to both the GSM and Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Forum member B16's original GSM dump, followed by jdkoreclipse's VZW versison, have been tinkered with throughout the night and appear to be working quite well. It's flashable through Recovery after a wipe and a cleared cache,...

Huawei today announced that the Honour, its 4-inch, Gingerbread-powered smartphone, is now available in the UK through independent retailers. Don't let the British spelling fool you-- the Honour is the same device we reviewed back in January, complete with 1.4 Ghz Snapdragon processor, and 8 MP camera. Huawei says that the Honour will bring honorable (sorry, couldn't resist) battery life to the...

MetroPCS today introduced its latest Android smartphone, the LTE-capable Huawei Activa 4G. This is Huawei's first LTE device here in the United States, and for $149 without a contract (after a $50 instant rebate and a $50 mail-in), we'll happily welcome it to our shores. The Activa isn't going to blow anyone away spec wise: underneath the 3.5-inch HVGA display, the Activa is sporting an 800 MHz...

Motorola Droid Bionic owners are beginning to receive an official OTA update from Verizon, said to improve Bluetooth volume, Visual Voice Mail, and LTE connectivity. Version 5.9.905 doesn’t bring with it any drastic changes, but maintenance updates are never anything to scoff at. The forums are lighting up with folks who are already seeing the update push to their devices, though as always, it...

LG announced today that its Optimus LTE2, the Korea-only device we first met back in May, is now available in a white variant. In case you’ve forgotten, the LTE2 comes packed with a 4.7-inch True HD IPS display, a 1.5 Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, and 2 whole GBs of RAM. LG says that the LTE2 sold 150,000 units in its first 10 days on the shelves, which is certainly nothing to sneeze...

Corning today introduced its newest display technology, a thin and flexible surface its calling "Willow Glass." The glass maker says that its latest design will support thinner backplates and color filters for OLED and LED technologies, but most importantly it will be flexible, enabling curved displays for smartphones, tablets, and notebooks. Corning, the makers of the popular and durable...

Vodafone UK today introduced the Smart II, its budget-friendly Android smartphone priced at a cool £70 on pay-as-you-go plans. Targeted at first-time smartphone buyers, the Smart II is the successor to Vodafone’s original SMART. The Smart II comes spec’d in line with its price tag, and includes a 3.2-inch display at 480 x 320 HVGA resolution, an 800 MHz processor, a 3MP camera, and Gingerbread...

Sprint announced today that service on its iDEN network will cease as early as June 30, 2013, and that it will begin transitioning customers to its Direct Connect service in the coming months. The transition is part of the carrier's "Network Vision" and will allow Sprint to reassign its 2G spectrum, which currently supports the iDEN network, for its upcoming LTE rollout. Sprint will begin...

Remember MP3 players? You know, those small electronic devices that old people used to keep their music on? They didn't make phone calls. They didn't play Angry Birds. If they're before your time, you’re not alone: after reaching the height of their popularity with Apple’s iPod, digital music players saw a sharp decline in sales, due in large part to the meteoric rise of smartphones. As phones...

After three short days on the shelf, Virgin Mobile's LG Optimus Elite is already up for a promotion: Google will credit your Google Wallet account with $25 when you activate the NFC-service within 7 days of activating your Elite. LG's Gingerbread-powered Optimus Elite is the prepaid carrier's first NFC-capable device, and Virgin isn't wasting any time putting the service to good use. The offer...

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